It seems that J.R.R. Tolkien isn’t going to shake off the habit of publishing books posthumously anytime soon. The Fall of Númenor is a new novel set in the Second Age, chronicling the downfall of the proud kingdom at the hands of Sauron’s treachery. The story will share the same chronological backdrop as Amazon’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, so its profoundly needless existence can’t be a mere coincidence.
According to The Tolkien Society, The Fall of Númenor will use the extensive appendices to The Lord of the Rings and parts of The Silmarillion to deliver a cohesive narrative about the Downfall of Númenor, the proud kingdom of men whose might may have, at one point or another, threatened the integrity of Valinor itself. Since long-time J.R.R. Tolkien editor Christopher Tolkien is no longer with us, the book will be revised by famous Tolkien scholar Brian Sibley.
Addressing the reveal with a statement of his own, here’s what Sibley had to say.
“As my many friends in the Tolkien Society will understand, it has been a great honor to have been entrusted with the task of bringing together J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings (under the editorship of Christopher Tolkien) relating to the dramatic history spanning the Second Age of Middle-earth. I hope that this opportunity to read, as a single narrative, an account of those years, will provide a new appreciation of how the monumental events of the Second Age were to impact those told in The Lord of the Rings.”
The book will also include 11 new sketches from Tolkien artist Alan Lee, including the cover art which you can see below.
The Fall of Númenor will be the fourth book, following 2007’s The Children of Húrin, 2017’s Beren and Lúthien, and 2018’s The Fall of Gondolin, to expand on a part of the legendarium laid out in The Silmarillion. Of course, unlike those other books that incorporated new material into the story, this latest project doesn’t seem to include any new writings besides what we’ve already read in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and The Unfinished Tales, which is why many Tolkien fans might deem it a none too subtle cash-grab attempt.
Still, given the fact that The Rings of Power will get into the history of Númenor, this new book will serve as a great companion piece to go along with it.
The Fall of Númenor comes out on Nov. 10, but you can pre-order it from Amazon right now.